# If it harelips everybody on Bear Creek!
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 6, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963 "2003-01-06T16:43:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 11
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2003, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/1 "2003-01-06T16:43:43Z")
Near the end of _Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb_, Major T. J. “King” Kong (played by Slim Pickens) is piloting his B-52 toward the target when he finds that the bomb-bay doors won’t open.
After trying everything in the manual, Kong decides to take matters into his own hands and utters the immortal line, **"Stay on the bomb run, boys! I’m gonna get them doors open if it harelips everybody on Bear Creek."**
It’s obvious from context what Kong means, but I’ve got to ask about the etymology of the phrase, “if it harelips everybody on Bear Creek.” Was this ever in common use? If so, what’s its origin? Or is this just some sort of faux-Texan nonsense that Terry Sourthern and/or Slim Pickens dreamed up for the script?
I did a little research online and found this page, [http://www.eslnotes.com/movies/html/dr-strangelove.html](http://www.eslnotes.com/movies/html/dr-strangelove.html), which gives notes on _Dr. Strangelove_ for ESL students, but it pretty much punts when trying to explain this one.
---
### Author:  [@Mamapotomus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mamapotomus)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/2 "2003-01-06T17:04:37Z")
My family uses “…if it harelips the governor” or alternately “…if it harelips every mule in the county”
I now my grandmother used both of these… she was born in East Texas in 1911… and I’m **positive** she never saw Dr. Strangelove.
---
### Author:  [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2003, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/3 "2003-01-06T17:18:46Z")
_If that ain’t country, it’ll harelip the Pope_
- **David Allan Coe**
---
### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/4 "2003-01-06T19:57:13Z")
I used that immortal utterance as a sig once in a while. Nobody can deliver a line like Slim.
* * *
Somebodys gotta go back and get a shitload of dimes!
---
### Author:  [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2003, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/5 "2003-01-07T00:06:15Z")
my mom is from ireland, married an Okie. she uses ‘harelip the governor’. i saw it on “Casino” used by some rich nevada cowboy.
---
### Author:  [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2003, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/6 "2003-01-07T00:08:13Z")
make that ‘i also’ saw it on ‘Casino’…
---
### Author:  [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/7 "2003-01-07T00:10:54Z")
…and, the whole reason i give my genealogical history is to say that, while i don’t know if they say it in ireland, i’m pretty sure that she picked it up from my okie father.
---
### Author:  [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2003, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/8 "2003-01-07T01:41:40Z")
“If it hairlips Hannah” was our local variant.
I have been known to use Pickens’ line at work, when I’m feeling particularly loud and obnoxious.
Dr. J
---
### Author:  [@dono](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dono)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/9 "2003-01-07T02:20:22Z")
But what does the expression _mean_? You can’t “harelip” somebody, it’s congenital, after all … 😕
---
### Author:  [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/10 "2003-01-07T05:05:15Z")
> **[Penguin Random House](https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com?date=19980625)**
>
> Committed to publishing great books, connecting readers and authors globally, and spreading the love of reading.
This might answer your question.
---
### Author:  [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2003, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-it-harelips-everybody-on-bear-creek/146963/11 "2003-01-07T07:33:31Z")
This was hashed out on these boards [recently](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=150252&highlight=harelip)